General
Sir John Du Cane kindly put me up at the British Mission, which was
quite close to the Marshal's chateau, and I had a most interesting
week. The morning after I arrived, General Grant brought me over to
the Marshal's H.Q., a nice old place. We were shown into a
waiting-room, and in a couple of minutes General Weygand (Chief of
Staff) came in, a quiet, gentle, good-looking little man. It was
impossible to imagine him carrying the weight of responsibility he had
at that time. He was perfectly calm, and most courteous, and after
talking to General Grant for a few minutes, brought us in to the
Marshal. And there was the great little man, deep in the study of his
maps, very calm, very quiet. He would certainly sit. How long did I
want him for? An hour and a half each day, for four or five days?
Certainly. When did I wish to start? The next day? Certainly. He would
sit from 7 a.m. to 8.30 a.m. for as many mornings as I wished. Might
he smoke while he sat? Yes! Bon! Would I go and look out what room
would suit me to work in? Any room I liked except the one I was in
with the maps. I fixed up a little library to work in--a long, narrow,
dark little place, but with a good light by the window. I got up very
early the next morning and arrived there about 6.15 a.m., and as
nobody seemed to be about, I walked in, and as the only way I knew (p. 078)
how to get to the library was through the room with the maps, I opened
its door, and there he was, deep in study. He got up, shook hands, and
said he would be with me at 7 a.m. In he came at 7 a.m., very quietly,
and sat like a lamb, except that his pipe upset him. It seemed that
some of his English friends thought he was smoking too many cigars,
and they had given him a pipe and tobacco, and asked him to try and
smoke it instead. But up to that date the Marshal was not a star at
pipe-smoking. He could light it all right, but after about two minutes
it would begin to make strange gurgling noises, which grew louder and
louder, till it went out. The next day I brought some feathers and
cotton wool, and the Marshal looked on me as a sort of hero, because
each time we rested I used to clean out the pipe and dry it.

During all the time he was sitting great battles were going on and the
Germans were being driven back. News was brought to him about every
ten minutes. If it was good, he would say "Bon!" If it was bad, he
just made a strange noise by forcing air out through his lips. D